Cherry Blossom in the Springtime
by FandomObsessedGirl
Summary: Rose and Scorpius don't get along. Kat and Bryony are Rose's best friends. Bryony is usually quite shy, but Kat dates. A lot. And she has her sights set on Scorpius. But when she asks Rose to get close to Scorpius as they're both prefects, with the aim of dating him, what she doesn't count on is Rose falling for Scorpius, and he for her. RosexScorpius, Next Gen.
1. An Unexpected Announcement

**A/N: Thank you for reading, this is my first HP fanfic to appear on this site and I hope you enjoy it! Reviews are MUCH appreciated! ~Ellie**

"Bye Rose," said her mother, kissing her cheek. Rose smiled at her mum, excited.

"Bye!" she replied, grabbing her suitcase and dragging it onto the train, glancing down to her chest to check her prefect badge was still there. She was guided into a special compartment, where she put down her trunk and looked around the room, quickly taking in who else who had been made prefect. Her eyebrows joined together in the middle, frown lines on her forehead as she spotted one Scorpius Malfoy sitting, leaning back in his chair so he was only on two chair legs. She looked away, shaking her head slightly. He was a Ravenclaw and she was a Gryffindor, but rather like her mother, she had beaten him several times in the past. They had never really spoken, but on several dire warnings from her dad, she had made sure to stay away from him, but his fellow Ravenclaw prefect, Jessie, was one of her friends. She saw her cousin, Albus, sitting at the Hufflepuff table with Phoebe. Over at the Slytherin table was Olivia Parkinson and Gordon Zabini, neither of whom Rose got on with, given their parents hated each other. She headed over to her own table, where Josh Western sat. "Hi," she said, sitting opposite him. He grinned at her, evidently pleased to see she was a prefect too.

"Hey," he said cheerily. "Congratulations."

"You too," she said. The two were best friends, though many people thought they should be more than friends, but neither was interested in the other. The room was filled with the quiet buzz of each prefect pairing talking, congratulating each other and catching up on what they had missed. Suddenly, the buzz died down as the Head of Gryffindor house and Deputy Head of Hogwarts, Professor Neville Longbottom, entered the compartment. The 8 were silent, but they glanced around, confused. No-one had ever mentioned teachers being on the Hogwarts Express, although, logically, how else were prefects supposed to receive instructions?

"Now, you will all be patrolling the train at intervals, which aren't going to be set, just make sure you patrol at least twice during the journey. I am really here to tell you about something important. Everyone else will be finding out this evening, so I don't want you telling anyone just yet, but we will be having a Triwizard tournament this year." A babble of excited chatter broke out, but Neville held up a hand to silence them. "However, the last Triwizard tournament didn't exactly go to plan… and it was hosted at Hogwarts. So, the three schools have decided that this Triwizard Tournament will be hosted at Beauxbatons."

Rose's eye opened wide, along with everyone else's in the compartment. "You will all be travelling to France, to represent the school, as well as those who are of age and wish to place their name into the Goblet of Fire. No doubt many of you will have heard about the Triwizard Tournament and will be excited about this prospect, but you must not tell anyone about this until the details are revealed tonight. Unless anyone has any questions, you may leave." Neville waited for any questions, but all 8 slowly got up and walked out, slightly shocked.

Outside, Rose grabbed Jessie, Albus and Josh. "Did that…"

"Really just happen?" finished the three. Then Rose and Jessie squealed, grabbing each others forearms and jumping up and down in their excitement. Albus and Josh just watched, eyebrows raised. The other four prefects had already left, but Rose and Jessie were too excited and Albus and Josh were waiting for them.

"Guys," said Albus. "We better find a compartment." The two girls were still too hyper to respond. "Guys!" he shouted and the two girls finally stopped jumping up and down, looking at him expectantly. "Us. Compartment. Find one," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Sorry," chorused Rose and Jessie. Albus shook his head and led the way down the train until he found an empty compartment for them to pile into excitedly.

* * *

"This is ridiculous!" gasped Jessie. "We're spending the _entire year _at Beauxbatons? This is our OWL year! And we're prefects!" Albus shook his head. Jessie looked at him, confused.

"We'll more than likely be going for the tasks and the selection of the champions and spending the rest of the time back here." Jessie and Rose's shoulders slumped slightly, but they were still excited. They sat down, but they could hardly sit still.

"I wonder who's going to put their name in!" said Rose.

"I expect a lot of people will," said Albus. "Now, I'm going to patrol and look for my other friends. I'll see you guys later." Rose and Jessie continued to chat excitedly, with Josh sitting looking out the window, until Rose's best friends, Scottish Bryony and Katherine, or Kat, who was one of the prettiest girls in the school, arrived.

Kat wasn't looking particularly pretty at that moment in time, though, because the two girls had their faces pressed against the glass of the compartment door, squashing their noses flat. Obscured by the two was Jessie's best friend, Lexi. Bryony and Kat were in Gryffindor, but Lexi was in Ravenclaw, which was probably why Rose was closer to Bryony and Kat. "How's Chris?" Rose asked Kat. Chris was one of Josh's best friends and when Rose had last seen Kat, she'd been going out with him.

"I dunno," she said. "I dumped him." They all sighed.

"What was wrong with him?" asked Josh, who, although he was friends with Chris, Albus and their other friend Oscar – Bryony's long-term boyfriend – he spent more time hanging around with the girls, which would get most other boys teased, but not Josh.

"He's a bit short," said Kat, tossing her long blonde hair. "And he was an awful kisser." They all laughed, but apparently Kat was deadly serious. Rose pushed her red hair out of her face. "You need a hair cut," Kat sang. "I'll do it for you if you want." Rose nodded. She wouldn't trust anyone else to cut her hair, but Kat was more than capable and had a unique way of knowing exactly what would suit her. Kat smiled, her blue eyes twinkling.

"So, who's next on your list of boys?" asked Bryony, interested. Kat usually had her sights set on a boy, unless she was dating one, in which case she would wait until he'd dumped her, or more likely she dumped him.

"Scorpius Malfoy," she said firmly. Bryony's grey eyes opened wide in surprise.

"Really? You think he'd date a half-blood? I don't think he would, no matter how pretty the half-blood in question is." Kat smiled at the subtle compliment. She seemed completely at ease with the fact that she had next to no chance.

"Oh, he'll come round. And if not, there are others." Rose rolled her eyes, slightly uncomfortable with the subject of boys. She had had boyfriends before, but never anything like Kat's relationships. Her boyfriends had all asked her out, because she was too shy to ask anyone out. "What's going on with you and Oscar?" asked Kat. Bryony blushed slightly and pushed her auburn hair behind her ear shyly.

"The usual," she said quietly. "We met up over the summer… we had a great time."

"Oooo!" joked Jessie and Lexi.

"Shut up!" laughed Bryony, embarrassed. "So, Rose… what's going on with you and Josh?" Both of them went bright red.

"Nothing," they both said firmly. Every time the subject was brought up, Rose got overly annoyed.

"I don't get this whole thing you have with me and Josh. I get that Josh hangs out with a lot of girls and that people naturally think that he's going out with one of them, but you all know he's not, so why do you keep saying we're together? Plus, why do people always think it's _me_ going out with him? It couldn't really be you, Kat, or Bryony, but Jessie and Lexi… or Sammie, or Rhi-Rhi or even Phoebe! No-one's going to think he's going out with Dani," she added. Phoebe and Dani were friends, but there was a big difference between them. Phoebe was a friend, not a close one, but they often hung out together and Dani… Dani was the shy one who seemed alright at first, but when you got to know her, she annoyed the socks off you.

"I don't know why you… maybe because you two are always hugging and laughing?" asked Lexi sarcastically. Rose had to concede she did spend way too much time hugging Josh than was normal, but she didn't care.

"I'm going to patrol now," she said. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

* * *

A few hours later, the six sat in their compartment, the floor around them littered with sweet wrappers from the trolley lady. Bryony had tried – and failed – to convince Kat to go after someone else, not Scorpius, but she stood firm. "I bet even Rose thinks he's cute, don't you Rose?" she asked. Rose looked at her, shocked.

"I don't know… I've never really thought about it…" Kat laughed. Rose blushed slightly. Now she thought about it, Scorpius was good-looking. But he was a jerk… wasn't he? Rose wasn't so sure. She'd never spoken to him. She was just basing her opinion of him on what her father had told her about Draco and suddenly she felt bad. That wasn't fair, at all. Rose made a vow to at least try to get to know Scorpius a bit better, perhaps when they were at Beauxbatons. Then, she could judge him, but not before. "She's thinking about it," said Kat, wiggling her eyebrows. Rose blushed furiously. "_Definitely _thinking about it." Rose cursed her tendency to blush and got up abruptly.

"Where are you going?" asked Bryony. "Kat was only joking, right Kat?"

"I'm going to patrol again," Rose said. "Back in a minute." As she left, she heard Bryony scolding Kat.

"What did you have to say that for? You know she doesn't like it!" Kat shrugged.

"How was I supposed to know she'd take it like that? And come _on_, she _was_ thinking about how cute he is!" As Rose got further away from the compartment the voices faded and she ended up listening to different conversations. Her mind wandered and she forgot to look where she was going. She walked straight into something and looked up to see Scorpius.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said breathlessly. "I'll just…" She tried to skirt around him, but he took her arm. She looked at him, her brown eyes wide.

"I just wanted to say, I know we never speak, but if we're going to be prefects together, we have to at least appear to get on. All of us do, even the Slytherins, especially at Beauxbatons. We don't want to give the impression that we're divided by houses." _But we are_, thought Rose. _What house you're in _does_ make a difference on who you can be friends with without being judged._ But, she just nodded and Scorpius let go of her arm. He smiled at her and she managed a small smile in return as they went their separate ways. Rose had probably looked rude as she had avoided making eye contact with Scorpius, but she didn't care. If she had made eye contact, she'd probably still be standing there, lost in his gorgeous eyes… Rose shook her head. What was wrong with her? This was _Scorpius Malfoy._ She had decided she would make an effort to speak to him, not make an effort to _crush_ on him! Her father would never allow it! A Weasley and a Malfoy.

She put the thought out of her head and turned around, as she was at the end of the train. By the time she got back to her compartment, Josh had left and the other four girls were in their Hogwarts robes. "Get changed, quick!" said Lexi as she did up her tie. "We're only about five minutes away!" Rose grabbed her bag and quickly began to change, pinning her prefect badge onto her Hogwarts robes and tying her tie neatly. Kat laughed at her pristine uniform. As usual, Kat's skirt was way above knee length, her tie was halfway down her chest and her top buttons were undone.

"Kat… why are you wearing your uniform like that?" she asked, sighing. Kat shrugged, brushing her hair so it fell over her shoulders and applying lipstick. Rose watched her, bored.

"Rose, come here," said Kat suddenly. Before Rose could stop her, Kat had pushed her onto the seat and was kneeling in front of her. "Now, just stay still…" Rose had no choice but to stay still, at least, until Kat had applied mascara, eyeliner and lipstick. Then she managed to get up, but only because they had pulled into Hogsmeade station. "There, you look much better," she said happily. Rose sighed. She didn't want to be wearing makeup, but she didn't have time to remove it and she couldn't have resisted, unless she wanted black mascara or black eyeliner or red lipstick all over her face. Kat was waving a mirror in her face and she had to admit she looked good.

"Thanks," she said grudgingly, as she grabbed her trunk and began to follow all the other students off the train and back to Hogwarts, their home for the next three years.


	2. Bravery and Chivalry

**AN: Thank you for your continued read, I really do appreciate it! Criticism is appreciated also, as well as compliments! Let me know your thoughts! ~Ellie**

Rose sat at the head of the table, surrounded by Kat, Bryony and Josh. Albus, Chris and Ben sat at the Hufflepuff table, near to Phoebe and Lucy, and Jessie, Lexi, Sammie and Rhi-Rhi sat at the Ravenclaw table, with Scorpius sat at a distance, with his friends. The first years were led in by Professor Longbottom, all tiny and nervous. The sorting hat was placed on the stool and the first-years stood transfixed while it sang. It was highly doubtful any of them would remember what it had said – they were too amazed by it all. Rose watched as the first-years were sorted and applauded if they were sorted into her house, shaking their hand and introducing herself if they sat in one of the seats on the side her friends weren't.

Once the sorting was over, Professor Farrington, the Head, stood up. Rather like Dumbledore, she saved her speech until after the feast and simply welcomed everyone back to Hogwarts before bringing out the food. The first-years were astonished into silence, especially the Muggle-borns or those who hadn't been told a lot about Hogwarts. Everyone tucked in and for a minute, there was only the sound of eating, though as the food left on plates went down, the level of chat went up. People who hadn't sat with their friends on the train for any reason were catching up on what had been happening over the summer and those who had been sat with their friends found something else to chat about!

After a while, the main courses disappeared and they were replaced with desserts. Typically, everyone dived straight into the desserts with just as much gusto as they had dived into the main course, despite the fact they had all sworn they were full before the desserts were brought out. It took a while, but finally they demolished all the desserts, so only crumbs were left on the plates. The plates disappeared and Professor Farrington stood up to make her speech.

As soon as she mentioned the Triwizard Tournament, a loud buzz started, which took several minutes to get back under control. Eventually, she explained it thoroughly. Those who were interested in participating and all the prefects would go for the selection of the champions, then for the tasks, the Hogwarts champion and the prefects, along with the champions friends and family would go and finally, for the Yule Ball, anyone who was staying at Hogwarts over the Christmas holidays would go. Everyone was excited about the news that anyone could attend the Yule Ball, especially the girls, who were already discussing dress options!

It took a while for everyone to realise they were free to go – most people only realised because the prefects stood up and called for the first-years. Rose and Josh led all the first-years up to the common room, followed by Kat and Bryony, who were messing around, walking with their knees bent, pretending to be first-years. "The password now is "fortitude et virtus" which means "bravery and chivalry", two qualities valued by Gryffindor house, however the password will be changed," Rose told the first-years before turning to the Fat Lady, who swung open, having heard her say the password. "Girls dormitories are upstairs on the left, boys are on the right!" she called, fighting to be heard over the cacophony of noise. "You will find your cases already at the end of your bed and house uniform will be provided. I suggest you get an early night, you will receive your timetables tomorrow morning."

Rose headed over to Kat and Bryony after she had finished her speech. Fortunately, Kat and Bryony had stopped messing around and were happy to have a chat, albeit a short one, before they headed up to bed. "So, Scorpius Malfoy, eh?" asked Bryony. Kat tossed her hair again.

"Well, I might not _get_ him, but I may as well _try_. He is pretty cute and to be honest I'm not just trying to date him for the sake of it. I'd actually _like_ to date him."

"You _said_ you'd like to date Chris last time," said Rose, tired.

"Well, that was before I discovered shorter guys aren't my thing and before I discovered he's an awful kisser! Besides, we're still friends! Some of the others I just dated because, well, because I could. But I know now that that is horrible and I will only date people I genuinely want to from now on. So, I'll set Rose the task of getting to know Scorpius and becoming friends with him so I can get to know him better!" Rose opened her mouth in shock. Bryony sighed and leant back in her chair.

"No!" cried Rose. "I am not going to make friends with Scorpius just so _you_ can get to know him! If I want to make friends with him, I will! But I'll be doing it for me, not for you!" With that, Rose got up and headed off upstairs to get away from Kat for the second time that day.

* * *

The next day, all the prefects were called to a meeting at the start of lunchtime, so Rose and Josh headed off together, chatting about their previous lesson. When they reached the office they were having their meeting in, only Scorpius and Jessie were there, so they sat down on a table with them and, although Rose tried not to get too friendly with Scorpius, she found herself relaxing. He was really funny and a nice guy, she thought dreamily, snapping out of it as Albus, Phoebe, Parkinson and Zabini came in. Albus gave her a look that quite clearly asked her what she was doing talking to Scorpius, but he and Phoebe sat with them anyway, while Parkinson and Zabini sat down on the other side of the office, glaring at them and muttering away. As soon as Professor Farrington came in, they all shut up to let him speak. "This is just a quick meeting to sort out prefect patrols…" he started and, five minutes later, the meeting was over and the prefects were leaving. Rose didn't even realise until she got to the Great Hall that she and Scorpius were ahead of the others because she was so caught up in conversation with him.

As she entered the Great Hall, she noticed that Josh, Phoebe and Albus were a way behind, so she bleated a goodbye to Scorpius, going bright red and dashing off to the Gryffindor table to find Kat and Bryony. She plonked herself down and helped herself to food. Fortunately, they had noticed and she thought she was safe, but she was wrong. Josh sat down next to her and started to quiz her on Scorpius. "What were you talking about?" he asked. Rose sighed.

"Nothing!" she told him. "And anyway, it's none of your business. And, no, Kat, I wasn't doing it for you! I was talking to him because he is funny and nice. Any other questions?" No-one had any questions, so they ate in silence, Kat slightly miffed that Rose wasn't making friends with Scorpius for her benefit, but then why should she? Kat understood why, but she wasn't pleased about it. Rose was usually quite quiet with people she didn't know, but she snapped when people she knew well annoyed her and, more often that not, it was Kat she was snapping at. Once the awkward meal was over, the four went outside and sat under Rose's favourite tree in the Hogwarts grounds – a cherry blossom tree. It wasn't blossoming, but it was still a nice place to sit, looking over at the lake and the grounds. "I'm glad to be back," said Rose, smiling. She lay down on her back, looking up at the clear blue September sky. Kat and Bryony sat up with their backs against the tree, but Josh lay down next to Rose and Bryony giggled. "What?" asked Rose.

"You two," she said. "You always say you're not going out and insist we don't go on about how cute you are as a couple and then you go and do something like that." Rose and Josh glanced over at each other before edging away from each other, making Kat and Bryony laugh with their weird sideways worm movements. They watched each other shuffle away to see what Kat and Bryony were laughing at and then they couldn't move any further apart because they were laughing too hard to move.

* * *

After lunch, they all headed up to Charms, which they had with the Ravenclaws. They took their normal seats, but Professor Jamieson stood up. "I'm going to mix the seats up," she announced and the class groaned. He went through the list, usually positioning Ravenclaw girls next to Gryffindor boys and vice versa. "Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley," she said, pointing to a desk at the back of the room and Rose outwardly sighed, but inside, she was happy. She and Scorpius hadn't spoken much, but they had got on fairly well. "Hi Weasley," he said, as he slung his bag down next to her.

"Malfoy," she replied curtly, pulling a quill and a piece of parchment out her bag. He laughed and opened his mouth to say something, but Professor Jamieson interrupted with the register.

"Today we'll be working on the Silencing Charm. Take a toad or a raven and begin your practise."

"I'll get it," said Scorpius to Rose and he got up, returning a few seconds later with a toad and a raven. "Take your pick," he said, plonking them in front of her. Rose pulled the toad towards her.

"You're a Ravenclaw, you can have the raven," she told him.

"But the symbol of Ravenclaw house is an eagle, haven't you ever wondered why that is?" asked Scorpius, smiling slightly.

"No, you should be wondering. You're the one with the enquiring mind," Rose teased him, readying her wand. "Silencio!" The toad croaked and Rose jabbed her wand at it again. "Silencio!" Still nothing. "Your turn," she told Scorpius airily.

"Silencio!" he tried and for a few seconds, the raven was silent and looked proudly at Rose, just as the raven cawed. Rose started to giggle and Scorpius pointed his wand over his shoulder, still facing Rose, away from the raven, and jabbed his wand. "Silencio!" The spell worked perfectly, so it was a shame he wasn't looking where he was pointing his wand. Professor Jamieson was standing behind them, voiceless. Just to rub it in, the raven cawed just as Rose noticed what had happened. "It didn't work," frowned Scorpius, looking at the raven.

"Oh, it did," Rose assured him, wide-eyed, watching her teacher mouth angrily at Scorpius. Scorpius turned around. "Oops," he said. "What's the countercharm?"

"I don't know," said Rose. "We didn't get that far…" She bit her lip, thinking hard, then picked up her wand, pointing it at her Professor. "Finite Incantatem!"

"Mr Malfoy, watch where you're pointing your wand. 25 points from Ravenclaw. Thank you Miss Weasley. 10 points to Gryffindor." Rose nodded as Professor Jamieson walked off and she suppressed a laugh. Scorpius scowled again.

"At least I can cast the spell," he muttered and Rose pointed her wand at the toad and jabbed it.

"Silencio!" The toad opened its mouth but no noise came out. The poor toad looked rather confused, but Rose looked smug and Scorpius looked annoyed. "So can I," said Rose smugly and neither she nor Scorpius spoke except to cast the spell for the rest of the lesson.


	3. Homework and Friendship

As Halloween approached, Scorpius and Rose continued to become closer, although he wouldn't hang around with her other friends, because he didn't like Kat. One lunchtime found the two of them sitting together, in a deserted corridor, one sitting on either side so they were facing each other, both leaning against the wall. Rose's hair was loose and her fringe was falling in front of her face and she kept pushing it back self-consciously. Scorpius' hair was in his usual style; messy.

"You know, Kat wanted to date you at the start of the year," Rose told Scorpius, watching him almost shyly. When she didn't know someone very well, she was shier than she was if she didn't know them at all and she was currently at that stage with Scorpius. Scorpius, however, thought it was cute.

"I'd never go out with her. I thought you'd know that."

"I do now," Rose protested. "Then… I didn't know you. I kinda hated you…" She blushed bright red at her confession and stared at the ground, the awkward silence making everything worse.

"Well, you know, I sorta hated you too. Before I spoke to you… I was brought up to know that the Weasley's were all no good. I guess you were told the same."

"Yeah… Dad says the Malfoy's were all scum. Mum was, well, less harsh, I suppose." Scorpius smiled at Rose's embarrassment. She, yet again, tucked her hair behind her ears – or tried to. She had let Kat cut her hair, and it looked fine, but it was just a bit too short to go behind her ears.

"You should get a clip for that," Scorpius told Rose, smiling. She laughed, awkwardly, not sure how to reply.

"Um… yeah, I should," she replied. "Whatareyoudoingafterlessons?" she asked quickly, scared of the response. Scorpius raised his eyebrows and Rose blushed yet again, her cheeks now roughly the colour of her hair. "Um… I said what are you doing after lessons?" she asked. "I mean, we've got Transfiguration homework… we could do it together?" Scorpius smiled at her, trying to stop her from blushing any more, if it was possible. Even though he found it sweet, he knew she was uncomfortable around him and he wanted to make it easier.

"Sure," he replied. "We do need to get it done." If she hadn't been so nervous, he'd have made a joke about it being a date, but he really wanted to avoid embarrassing her any more than he already had. Rose pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her knees. "What's up?" asked Scorpius.

"I'm bright red," replied Rose, her voice muffled by her hair and knees. Scorpius sat silently for a moment, then he started to laugh. "What's so funny?" asked Rose, looking up, but he was laughing too much.

Eventually, Rose started to join in, slowly at first, then hysterically. The bell went to tell them lessons were beginning again, but they were both laughing too hard to even consider getting up. Students trying to walk down the corridor had to step over their feet and, by the time Scorpius and Rose got to Charms, they were 5 minutes late and as such, received a detention for the following evening.

That evening, however, all thought of detention was put out of their minds as they waited impatiently in their separate common rooms for the time they were supposed to be meeting. Half an hour before she was supposed to meet Scorpius, Rose tried to get down, but Kat pushed her back and got out her makeup kit.

"You have to look nice for a date!" she told Rose, who instantly tried to back away, which was impossible due to the fact she was in a big squishy armchair.

"It's not a date!" she protested, but Kat was insistent, and Kat always got her way. It was part of the reason why she had thought she could date Scorpius. She was pretty, and she knew it, which meant she was confident, which boys seemed to like. She had got through primary school knowing she was a witch without being bullied, but not because she had taken special efforts to hide her powers. If something happened, she would shrug it off as just a 'special thing' she could do. The kids were awed by it and it made her more popular, but the teachers and parents laughed at their children's chatter about Kat, thinking it was either a trick she had learnt or just their imagination.

Bryony, however, had been the opposite. As she was shy; never an integral part of her primary school class, when she started to do odd things, she was classed as a freak. She grew her auburn hair longer so she could hide her face and her grey eyes would often fill with tears behind her curtain of hair. She had known she was a witch; her mother was a half-blood and her father was muggle-born, but it hadn't made it any easier. The teachers took pity on her, but they would lose interest when she wouldn't really respond to their attempts to help her. She had arrived at Hogwarts much the same, quiet, shy and scared of not being accepted, but Rose had joined her in the compartment on their way to Hogwarts, and Kat had made quite the impression the first time they had met her, in their first Hogwarts Feast, and Kat had continued to make quite an impression on everyone from that point on. It had taken a while for Kat to really notice Rose and Bryony and even longer for the girls to act naturally around her, but eventually they had grown as close as sisters; Kat and Rose's quarrels just made the relationship even more like that of sisters. It was Kat who had cut Bryony's hair much shorter; into a bob when she had started Hogwarts, but it had grown out since then and was now below shoulder length. Rose's had always been in a ponytail, because she couldn't really be bothered to straighten it, but after Kat had shown her how pretty it looked straightened, she wore it down, and, a while later, she trusted Kat enough to let her give her a new hair style. Kat's hair had changed colour several times since joining Hogwarts, but she always reverted to blonde, which Rose thought suited her. Rose's hair was one of the points Kat was concentrating on; it had to be brushed and clipped back, and apparently Rose needed make-up to go and complete her Transfiguration homework. She made a fuss about it, but she didn't really mind; in fact she was pleased that she had Kat to help her out in that department.

* * *

Once Kat was ready to let Rose go to meet Scorpius – still 15 minutes early, she headed off to the library to meet Scorpius – finally! She didn't hurry, as even at her normal pace, she would still be early. So, when she approached the library, she was surprised to see Scorpius already there, looking through books on the shelf, picking a few out seemingly at random before putting them back. Rose approached him, smiling at his expression of joy. Scorpius just loved books. The smell, the feel, the way a different world was neatly encased inside each one… it just fascinated him. While Rose didn't feel the same, she loved to see how enthralled he was by books. "Hey," she said and he jumped, out of the world of books and into reality. Rose leaned against a bookshelf, silently praying that it wouldn't collapse. "Hi," replied Scorpius. "You're here early."

"So are you," said Rose, smiling slightly. He nodded.

"Well… books, you see."

"So it's not me?"

"I… I didn't say that." The two of them looked at each other, both blushing. Rose looked down, her hair hiding her face. Scorpius was the first to speak. "Shall we get on with it? I've got the books we'll need on a table over here…"

They stayed in the library, getting over their initially awkward moment quickly and they were so into the work – and chatting – that the librarian, Mrs Brown had to come over to them to tell them to leave as they didn't pay attention to the first announcement. "Come _on_ you two!" she told them, standing over them as they shoved all their stuff into their bags. "You're prefects, you don't want a detention!"

"We've already got one tomorrow," muttered Scorpius. Rose sniggered and the librarian glared. She was usually quite friendly, but she hadn't heard what Scorpius had said and she had thought it was an insult.

The two packed their bags quickly and shoved books back onto the shelf, all the while under the scrutinising glare of Mrs Brown. "Sorry Miss," chorused Rose and Scorpius as they left the library, hidden under their bags, giggling like a couple of first-years.

Mrs Brown sighed as she watched them go. Scorpius was her favourite student and she knew he hadn't been insulting her; but she had just been in a bad mood.

Rose and Scorpius ran, laughing through the school until they came to where they had to part. "See you tomorrow," said Rose, her hand coming up to rub her cheek. Scorpius nodded and impulsively hugged her. Rose hugged him back, then he broke away and ran off towards the Ravenclaw common room.

Rose stood where she was for a moment, about to call after him, but she decided not too; she was the same colour as a tomato. Rose turned, once Scorpius was out of sight and headed back to the common room, her colour slowly returning to normal.

She stood outside the Gryffindor common room, the Fat Lady ogling her while she pulled out a small pocket mirror to check her skin colour. There was no way she was going back in there if she was still red; Kat would instantly make assumptions.

Once she had made sure she was back to her normal colour, she gave the password to the Fat Lady, who swung open to allow her into the common room. Kat and Bryony had seats in the corner, so Rose headed over to them. "Good time?" asked Bryony.

"Yeah, it was OK," said Rose noncommittally. Kat sniggered and Bryony kicked her. Rose ignored her and sat down with them. They were just finishing their homework and Bryony was packing her stuff back into her bag. "Shall we stay down here? Or go up?"

"Well, I'm tired," said Rose, barely covering a yawn. Kat raised an eyebrow, which Rose missed, but Bryony didn't, so she kicked Kat's leg again. "Let's go upstairs then," said Bryony, glaring at Kat. All three girls shoved their stuff into their bags and headed upstairs to change and chat for a bit before going to sleep.


	4. Kiss and Make Up

**A/N I hope you enjoy it, I know it's been a long time, but I've been working on the Seven Days of Whouffle event! I do not own HP but I would very much appreciate a review and I do respond to them :) Thank you for your continued support!**

The following day, after classes, Rose and Scorpius bid a gloomy goodbye to their friends, although Rose's mood picked up slightly at the fact that they would be together and it wasn't like Professor Jamieson was too strict, so they'd probably be either practising charms, doing lines or just helping him to prep his lessons, maybe by cleaning his classroom.

Rose even skipped the last few steps to his room, knowing they'd be done by 9 at the latest, so she'd have some time to do her homework.

When she knocked and entered, Scorpius was already there, and he and Professor Jamieson were sitting on either side of his desk, waiting. Professor Jamieson's arms were crossed, in a disapproving manner and Rose wasn't sure if it was because she was late or because he had two prefects in for detention.

"Sorry sir," she muttered, slipping into the seat beside Scorpius, waiting for the sentence to fall. Scorpius seemed quite relaxed and unconcerned; he was sitting back in his chair, his arms down the arm rest and he seemed to be the epitome of calm. Rose, however, sat nervously, her back straight and her hands in her lap.

"I'm surprised to have to have you two here," said Professor Jamieson, looking at them, annoyed, or irritated, or just disappointed. "I thought we could trust our prefects to be on time to classes." Rose felt about 10cm tall, but Scorpius seemed unconcerned, as if Professor Jamieson's words hadn't quite penetrated his calm exterior.

"Sorry, sir," murmured Rose again, but Scorpius didn't react.

"You'll be writing lines," he told them. "I will not be late to class. The parchment is on those two desks, please fill the front and the back, then you may leave." He looked down and began to carry on with his work, marking students' tests, while Scorpius and Rose silently moved to the desks, got out their quills and began to write.

About half an hour in, Rose and Scorpius had finished their first page and were just starting on the back when Professor Jamieson got up. "I'll be back in 5 minutes," he said, sweeping out of the room.

"Scorpius," hissed Rose. He didn't look up. "Scorpius! Scorpius, will you at least _look_ at me?" He reluctantly looked up from his work.

"I got a letter," he said, heavily. "From my dad. He'd heard about us being friends and he's not impressed." Rose was confused.

"I thought he changed, I thought he was different…" she said, puzzled. Scorpius let out a short laugh.

"He did, but he really hates Ron. He's not as strict, but some things are hard to forget, and grudges are one of them. I'm supposed to stay away from you."

"And you're going to listen to him? I get that he's your father, but you're old enough to make your own decisions! Do you not like me, is that it? Is this an easy way out of our friendship?"

"No-" he began, but at that exact moment, Professor Jamieson came back in and he had to return to his lines. Rose sat, angrily brushing away tears and Scorpius wished he could speak to her, to tell her that he wouldn't listen to his father, that he had been confused and trying to work out the best thing to do, rather than trying to hurt her.

Rose finished first, and by the time Scorpius had scribbled out his last few lines, she was long gone and he didn't know where to find her, so he desolately walked back to the Ravenclaw common room.

The next day, Scorpius got up earlier than usual, so he'd have more time at breakfast; usually he only had time to eat before he had to go to class, but he wanted a chance to speak to Rose. As soon as he was dressed, he combed his hair so he looked presentable and dashed down to breakfast.

Meanwhile, Rose was sitting in the Great Hall, as she was always there early enough to have a good chat with Kat and Bryony while she ate. When she saw Scorpius come in, she looked away deliberately, engaging in conversation with Kat and Bryony, wishing he wouldn't come over but, of course, he did.

"Rose, we need to talk," he said, while she persistently ignored him. He stood awkwardly while Rose finished her conversation with Kat and looked up, looking completely disinterested.

"I thought you'd made it perfectly clear I'm not worthy of your friendship according to your father, who you seem to think is always right. What is there to talk about?" The cold expression on her face really hurt Scorpius. As soon as he had mentioned his father's opinion, he had wished he hadn't. Because of how shy Rose was, he'd had to work quite hard to build up their friendship and he'd destroyed it all in just one minute. It was quite obvious that she was not comfortable with him anymore.

"Rose, please. I wanted to say that I know what my father says, and I'm going to ignore the piece of advice concerning our friendship." His speech had become a lot more formal, mainly because of her discomfort. He too, was uncomfortable, and wanted to come across as sincere and his way of sounding sincere was to sound more formal, rather than use slang terms.

Rose picked up on the use of language and a sudden wave of sentimentality rolled over her. What had happened to their friendship? Struck away in mere seconds? She didn't want to do something she would regret later, so she sighed.

"Fine, meet me at break in the courtyard and we can talk then, OK? I want to eat my breakfast at the minute."

"Sure," he said, turning and heading off to the Ravenclaw table to eat his own breakfast, just pleased that she had agreed to talk to him. Also, he had a couple of hours to plan what to say to her that would best convey his feelings. Especially as he was a Ravenclaw, he found the best way to express himself via words and the correct use of them.

Rose spent her lessons between breakfast and break having an internal debate about whether or not anything he could say would make her feel differently about the matter.

When she reflected on what he had said, she realised he had never aired his own views on the matter, and had just seemed to feel that he should do what his father said, which Rose could relate to. Both their fathers were quite strict and were probably both opposed to their friendship. Certainly Rose's father had shown an initial disliking to Scorpius and had warned her not to get friendly with him, but he hadn't mentioned the subject since then and Rose had never been sure how serious he had been. But if her dad told her not be friends with Scorpius, because she trusted him, she would wonder about if she should listen to her dad and she assumed Scorpius had felt the same.

By the time break had come, neither Rose nor Scorpius had got any further on the matter. After an hour of worry, Scorpius had decided to just go for it, sure that anything he said in the spur of the moment would be sincere and exactly what he thought as opposed to what he thought he should say. Rose had decided to make a decision based on whether or not he came across as simply worried about what his father would think or whether he had actually thought his father was right.

They both headed to the courtyard at break, neither knowing what to do, or say, worrying about how the encounter would go.

When Scorpius got to the courtyard, Rose was already there, sitting, head down in a book, scribbling notes onto a piece of parchment. She hadn't been there long; the bell had only just gone and the parchment was almost empty.

"Hello," he said, taking a seat next to her. She closed the book and carefully set it to one side, resting her parchment and quill on top.

"Hi," she said, a bit more warmly than she had before.

"I wanted to apologise, Rose. I would like a second chance, I mean, my father is still a racist, prejudiced idiot, but that doesn't mean I have to be one too. I have been an idiot though, so I'm sorry for that. My father isn't right and I never thought he was, I was just… scared of disappointing him." He turned away, facing the other end of the courtyard.

"It's OK and I'm sorry I didn't forgive you sooner. You didn't do anything wrong, and I understand how you feel about your father; I feel the same, like by being friends with you I'd disappoint him somehow. But both of them are going to have to learn that there are more important things to achieve than being enemies with someone for no reason and they'll have to learn to be proud that we overcame the barrier of our background to be friends. Because we are, right?" Scorpius turned to her, shocked that she'd accepted his apology.

"Right, friends. Friends are allowed to have little fall outs, as long as they kiss and make up." Rose looked a bit wary, so Scorpius clarified. "I meant that metaphorically. We don't have to kiss. A hug's cool." Rose grinned and they hugged, still sitting down.

"Is this a private couple thing or can anyone join in?" asked a familiar voice.

"Kat, just drop it," Rose said, irritated. "We're not a couple, no more than me and Josh are a couple."

"Well that ain't convincing me of anything," muttered Kat as she sat next to Rose. "Here's your stuff." She picked it up off the arm of the bench and passed it to her. Rose gave her a very quite 'thanks' and shoved it back into her bag. Having Kat there was… awkward to say the least, because she was in default flirting mode, but Scorpius put up with it quite well, answering politely rather than flirting back. Eventually, Kat got bored and stood up.

"I'm going to find Bryony, so, ciao!" Rose rolled her eyes as Kat left.

"You know, it seems like you two don't get along. Why hang out?" he asked, confused about the complex relationship.

"We do get on; we're just having a rough patch. We'll straighten it out; we always do. Kat and Rose and Bryony. We're always Kat and Rose and Bryony." Scorpius nodded, standing up with his bag.

"I'm gonna head up to Transfiguration. Coming with me?" Rose nodded and bent down to pick up her bag.

She slung it over one shoulder and followed him across the courtyard, chatting, just as the bell went to tell everyone to get to class.


End file.
